Wednesday, November 07, 2018

Air travel to small towns from Chennai is going to get a increase as flights to, Neyveli, Kadapa and under regional connectivity scheme are likely to be flagged out of kilter next month.
A report on the regional connectivity scheme Udan, released by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) this month, has set deadlines for the flights to small towns. It also illustrates that AAI is gearing to start more flights to small towns by end of the year.

Chennai to Kannur service will begin in December, while services to Thanjavur and Vellore which should have commenced in January are expected to be delayed added. AAI has not set a new deadline for starting services at these airports.

Flights to Neyveli will take some more time as the is not ready. Sources say though the airstrip and the campus are ready, some more work needs to be completed for making the airport fit to receive flights.

On the Chennai-Kannur route, IndiGo flights will be launched in December, while SpiceJet flights which were scheduled for January this year could not be started as the airport was not ready. Kannur airport is expected to be ready in two to three months.
The Thanjavur flights by SpiceJet were scheduled for Janaury as per the Udan report of AAI. These routes were awarded to these airlines during the second round of bidding for Udan flights.
Low-cost carriers which had placed orders for small planes like ATR and Bombardier had garnered the most routes during the second phase of the bidding.
07/11/18 Canton Caller